The other day on the Magic premiered the new Dooney and Bourke purses for Disney Cruise Line! I was like a kid on Christmas and just had to have one!

Surprise, Surprise….we slept in again! There were a lot of things that we wanted to do that day but we missed them. It is ok, it was well worth sleeping in! =)
The show on the main stage was performed by former American Idol finalists, Justin Guarini and Brooke White. Justin was so so. He whistled through one of his songs which did not make any sense. Brooke was great. She has a great personality and a great voice. During her performance she said that she wanted to be a Disney Animator when she was younger. After she was done singing one of the crew members brought her a foam board and a sharpie marker to draw a picture. She drew a great Mickey Mouse. Then the guy asked what are you going to do with it? She said she would give it to a kid in the audience. Lucky us, she gave it to Brooklyn!!! Brooklyn was so excited!
After the show we went to dinner. Then after dinner we went to an autograph signing with Justin and Brooke. The girls had fun meeting them and taking pictures. Justin was so sweet to Madison when she was spelling her name for him. Brooke was also really sweet to Brooklyn.
Next stop Cadiz, Spain!

We finally got up early this day in order to make it off the ship. Brooklyn had a sleepover with her new friend Chloe the night before. They did not get much sleep so it was a little hard to get them moving! =)
After a breakfast at Topsiders we left with our friends. After haggling with a few taxi drivers we decided to just walk into town. Half way through our walk we bought tickets for the hop on and off bus. The kids liked sitting on the top of the bus. After two stops we got off and went to the cable car up to the top of the mountain. Once to the top we rode the famous Madeira toboggans back down the mountain. Once down we had to catch a bus to get us back to the city center. Once the bus dropped us off we got back on to the hop on and off bus. We took about a 30 minute drive around Funchal. Our visit was during the flower festival. It was nice to see all of the flower displays while driving by on the bus.
Once the bus ride was over we walked back to the ship. There was a fort right before we boarded the ship that the kids walked to go explore. There was a very steep staircase leading to the top. When we were finished Madison took a tumble down these stairs backwards. It was so scary but luckily she only had a few bumps and bruises. I thought for sure we were headed to the emergency room!
After returning to the ship the girls went swimming and then came back to the room for a nap before Pirate Night.

The entertainment for the night was the new Alice movie in 3D in the Walt Disney Theatre. I did not like the movie at all. I actually left half way through because I felt like I was just wasting my time being in there. The girls watched the rest with grandma and then came back to the room to get ready for pirate night.

Pirate night is always amazing on the Disney Magic. The deck party is just a blast! This is the first time that Madison made it through the night and was able to see the fireworks. She was so happy. She said that she is going to nap a nap on pirate night every time! =)

Day 6 at sea was once again a late wake up for the Schwetje family. We slept in till about 1PM. The time changes were rough! Craig woke up just in time to get our stuff signed by Ducky Williams. After that we took the girls to lunch and then got them ready for the Princess Tea. We had so much fun there. It was a great chance to meet all of the princesses at once. There was Belle, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Snow White, Alice, Minnie, Tiana and probably some more I am forgetting.

After the tea we got ready for a new show they were having that night. The show was called Walt Diney: The Dream Goes On. It was a GREAT show!!! We LOVED it. Madison cried at the end because she loved it so much!!! It was an amazing journey of Walt Disney’s career performed by an amazing cast aboard the Magic.

After the show we took the girls for Pin Trading in the lobby atrium and then to a wonderful dinner. It was a wonderful relaxing day at sea!

The first week of our cruise has just been amazing as always. It has been VERY relaxing! The entertainment during the day is less then what was offered on the Transatlantic in 2007. On a whole I think that Rachel was a better cruise director then Brent. The children’s programs have been wonderful. Our wait staff and the food has been great. The nighttime entertainment again is lacking! Last time we had Boyz II Men…this time Justin Guarini…sigh. We are looking forward to our finally sea day until land tomorrow in Madeira!

Day 5 at sea included the much anticipated Villians Tonight show. Again we all slept in and did not start moving until about lunch time. The girls had to be picked up from the sleepover at 7:30AM, which at this point felt more like 3:30 due to all of the time changes! After picking up 2 sound asleep girls we all went back to bed till lunch time.
After lunch we headed to “Family Mask Making”. It was a VERY poorly organized event to make masks for the Villians Masquerade Ball later that night. I should have realized after the mask making to forgo this whole activity. We waited on line for 40 minutes to get some paper masks and craft supplies. To then be rushed out of the venue because the event was ending in 20 minutes and they needed the space for a new event. The girls participated for about 10 minutes and then wanted to head to the kids clubs….surprise surprise. Hehehehehe
Later that night it was time to see this new show “Villians Tonight”. This show replaced the Golden Mickey’s while I am so sad to see gone!!! I tried to go into the show with an open mind but the show was just awful. The cast was great but the show was just TERRIBLE! The jokes were stupid, the scenes were lacking an interest and it was just silly! I kept wanted to walk out but decided to stick it out until the end. Well the ending was just as bad as the rest of it! That show was def a ONE AND DONE. I will not be watching that show again.
After dinner was the Masquerade Ball we made the masks for earlier. Well it was the first time they had the event and needless to say it was terrible. It was so unorganized, there was no flow and kids were basically excluded. In their defense it was the first time for the event and this ship is filled with WAY more adults then kids.
The girls asked to go to the kids club and Craig and I headed to “Match Your Mate”. I would never want to be picked to be one of the couples but we loved watching! It was fun because there was a large group of us who worked together to get one of the couples picked. The answers were hysterical and made for a lot of laughs!

Again, another morning of sleeping in! Craig and I woke up just in time to go to “Paint Fest at Sea”. It was a great event where guests got to help paint a large mural drawn by Ducky Williams which will be donated to a Children’s Hospital in Barcelona. I really wish the girls would have been up in time to take part in the event. They would have loved it! They just play so hard all day and night at the kids club that we have to let them sleep in or they would be SUPER grumpy!
That afternoon we had tickets for “Tea with Alice and the Mad Hatter.” Of course the girls dressed up in their Alice dresses and had a great time. We got perfect seats right up front and the girls had a blast.
That night the girls were having their first sleepover at the Kids Clubs. It is the first time they have had the opportunity to actually spend the whole night there. Since they would be gone for dinner we decided it would be the perfect night for Craig, grandma and I to head to Palo for an adult only dinner. We got the girls all ready in their PJ’s and took them down to the club early. Dinner was amazing as always. We had Sasha for our server. The risotto and the filet were both amazing.
This day started to be really rocky. We lucked out because the rest of the sea days were pretty calm. Craig and I decided to head to the adult pool after dinner. It was like a giant wave pool and a ton of fun to swim in. We were in there for over an hour and just had a blast.

Day 3 at sea and yet another day of losing an hour of sleep! The whole family slept in until about lunch time! Craig and I took the girls up to topsiders for lunch and then headed to a presentation on Disney’s newest ship being built, The Dream! It was so amazing all of the cool things that will be on this new ship. I guess it is time to put a deposit down on one of the sailings in 2011!
Later that night there was a show called “Once Upon a Song”. Brooklyn and Craig are the only ones who made it to the show because Madison and I took a nap.
We had another great dinner. They offered another show of the awful magician later that night for adults but we chose to skip it for obvious reasons.

Day 2 at sea marked the 2nd of 6 time changes!
We started the morning with “Mickey’s Island Jam”. As always a lot of fun! The main stage performers who turn into character hosts for the event can get a little annoying but it is a fun way to see all of the characters.
Later that day Craig and I went to see a talk on the History of Transatlantic Cruises. Captain Kenneth Puckett, a formal naval officer, held the talk. It was a great talk explaining our voyage and comparing our path to the same one as Christopher Columbus too.
The main stage show that night was the Magic of Jason Bishop. I think if I bought a magic book before coming on the cruise I could have pulled off a better show. It was a really bad night for him. His tricks were failing and all over just a mess. Brent, our cruise director tried to tell us that he was the most requested Magician in the world. Well he did not look a day over 25 so I can’t imagine how he could be so popular. All in all just not a good show. The girls got to go on stage for one of his tricks. Still so not impressed!
Before dinner we headed to redeem ourselves on the earlier game of “The Wheel”. We “spanked” the other teams. It was great!!!
Dinner again was amazing followed by a night time show of Alfred and Seymour. This is an act that is widely talked about on Disney Cruise Line. They were funny. I don’t think they were amazing but they were funny. I am glad I was not one that got picked on though!
We wanted to go to “One Hit Wonders” but Madison needed to be picked up from the club and we just decided to call it a night.

Our First Day at Sea
We were very excited for our first day at sea. The girls and I started the morning with a Scrapbooking Party hosted by future cruise sales. Hummm, note to self: would love a job as the future cruise sales manager aboard the ship. The girls had fun scrapbooking but quickly wanted to head to the kids club. Brooklyn just loves being in the “Lab” and Madison wanted to get to the Do Si Do with Snow White.
Craig, Grandma and I went to Don “Ducky” Williams presentation that afternoon. He has such a fun story as to how he became a cast member for Disney. After his presentations he always raffles off about 20 of his drawings. I was lucky enough this time to win one!!!!! I got a hand drawn Daisy Duck by Ducky!!! YEAH!!!
After the show we headed to the gift shop to try to find something to get the picture home in. While waiting for them to get tubes large enough my mom came to bring me a letter she found in the room. We were lucky enough to be chosen as FAMILY OF THE CRUISE! Well actually grandma and the girls were chosen but we will share in all of their joy! We have received special treats in our room each day. It has been a lot of fun!
After enjoying our goodies of the day we had to start getting ready for formal night and “Twice Charmed”. The show was great as always. This cast is very talented! We stopped by the Captain’s Welcome reception both before and after the show. How did I not know that the drinks were free until the last cruise! Oh what was fun night!
Dinner was great as always!

Craig woke up early and ran the Castaway 5k. The girls and I slept in and met him on the island a little later. The island was overcast at first but the sun came through by the afternoon. The new Pelican Plunge waterslides were open and Brooklyn really enjoyed those. Madison went once and did not like it. They drop you in the ocean kind of fast so she got too much water up her nose for her liking!
We spent the afternoon on the island and then Craig and the girls rented bikes and took a tour of the island. All aboard was at 3:30 and after that we headed to the Goofy Pool for the “Farewell to the Caribbean” deck party. It was a ton with all the cruise staff, characters and the resident band. They played lots of fun music and had a conga line procession throughout decks 9 & 10. It was a blast! At the event Craig and I realized this is why we take these vacations. They are just so much fun for all members of the family. Looking forward to years to come of these amazing vacations!!!
Later that night we went to watch our main stage show featuring a hypnotist of Ricky Kalmon. I am NOT a believer of hypnosis but I went anyway. Well I lasted about 20 minutes until I had to leave. It is just not entertaining for me. One of our tablemates for dinner went up there. She did some funny things that I am sure she will be reminded of for times to come.
After the show the girls quickly ran back to the kids club and Craig and I went down to Rockin Bar D to play “The Wheel” with fellow cruisers. I am a bit of a sore loser and our team was just doing awful! We would always figure out the answer to the puzzle but when we would spin we would either lose a turn or go bankrupt. :( It was no fun losing but later in the week we were able to redeem ourselves with a big win.
After that we headed to dinner to meet our new wait staff for the cruise. We have Miki (pronounced Mickey, how fitting) and Fernando. We just LOVE them both. Miki is pretty low key but a great waiter. He is from Serbia. Fernando who is our assistant server is from Honduras. He is just great. He is very funny and always so helpful. He is new to Disney Cruise Line but already so great at what he does.
After dinner we headed back to Rockin Bar D for magic Quest. Magic Quest is always one of my favorites about the cruise. Basically it is a scavenger hunt for things within just a room and on yourself. We had a great team and surely should have won. One man decided to take the game to a new level….which I will not mention here. Hopefully things like that don’t continue in years to come.

Boarding the Magic was magical as always. It is such a great feeling to hear….”The Disney Magic welcomes aboard the Schwetje Family!”
After boarding Craig and grandma took the girls to lunch while I went to check on dining and sign up for Tea with Alice and the High Seas Transatlantic Character Camp Out for Brooklyn. Currently we are still keeping our fingers crossed that Madison will be able to join the camp out because she is 2 months shy of her 5th birthday. =) She will be so sad if she can’t participate.
Our rooms were ready at 1:30 and luggage started to arrive shortly after that. Besides the lifeboat drill and Sail Away party I stayed in the room to unpack. Well panic started to set in because all the suitcases except mine showed up! We had everything except all of my clothes!!! I thought for awhile that I would be sailing in the outfit I had on and the one I wore the day before at Epcot. After being stressed and lots of tears my suitcase showed up. Luckily it was just on the wrong and someone delivered it to our stateroom.
I missed the “All Aboard! Let the Magic Begin!” because I was too worried about the suitcase. Luckily I was able to unpack and meet the girls and Craig in time for Dinner. Dinner the first night was interesting. All of the linking with dining partners got messed up but it was all worked out for night 2. Most people seemed to complain about the dining on the first night. There were a few steak options and the meat was just not the greatest quality. I got a shrimp risotto and it tasted just fine! =)
For the adults in Rockin Bar D they had “Icebreakers” the first night. It was a ton of fun. A bunch of DISers sat together and made it to be a really night. There were three games that were played. The first was where 5 team members had to stand shoulder to shoulder and pass a spoon with the string tied to the end down ones shirt and pants, then up ones shirt and pants and so on and so on. It was hysterical! Our team won our round of that game! Next game was where a coin had to be placed in someone’s “cheeks” and carried and dropped into a bucket. Again lots of fun and laughs with that one!

We had a fun day at Epcot. The girls really enjoyed riding Test Track and running around to all of the countries collecting stamps and messages in different languages. The weather was much nicer then when we were here in June last year. It was so much more enjoyable not being so hot all of the time.
After Epcot we headed to Cape Canaveral. We checked into the Country Inn and Suites where we started meeting all of our DIS friends! We went to Publix and picked up last minute items along with Chinese food for dinner. The east coast really has much better Chinese food then the west.
The girls went swimming and enjoyed meeting tons of new friends!!! Brooklyn and Madison had so much fun with their new friends Chloe and Bella that they decided to have a sleepover with them. Grandma got to share a set of bunk beds and a twin bed with 4 little girls. =)
Of course I woke up super early and headed to the port. At least I was in good company with Jeannie and Michelle! We got there at 7AM, just in time to watch those who were leaving the ship disembark! It was great seeing the Magic, our home for the next 25 nights, in port.
The port opened a few minutes after 10 and I was off to get my #2 boarding card. One day in the future when we become Platinum Castaway Club members I can avoid having to run to the port because I will get a #1 card automatically! Time to start saving for more cruises…..hehehehe

We had a fun but very long day! Epcot was fun. Test Track was great as always and Madison really enjoyed participating in the passport stamping throughout the countries. The girls also really enjoyed their Kim Possible Missions to save the world! =)

We had a great travel day! Well as great as a travel day can be. The girls were amazing. I could not have asked for two more well behaved girls!!! Thanks girls, for making this vacation get off to a wonderful start.

I had been so worried about all of our suitcases weighing over 50lbs but they all came in UNDER weight! YEAH!!!

We had a layover in Austin, TX. Brooklyn was very surprised to see farms, barns and flat land all around when we were landing in Austin. She said San Diego looks so different! =)

When we arrived in Orlando It was hot. Nothing like it was last summer but it was hot. We noticed the humidity immediately! We ate dinner at Denny’s which was awful but at least it was food. Grandma and found a 24 hour Wal Mart and Craig took the girls swimming at the hotel.

Time to get some rest for our day tomorrow at Epcot!

The girls got up super early, no complaining and got dressed and ready to go! Now all there is left to do is wait! =)

Hi everyone! It is finally here! The day is finally here for our vacation! After months of planning, lots of list, tons of running around, it is finally here!!!

I am so blessed for all of my amazing friends who got us to this point! Thanks for all the help you provided before and while we are away. You guys are awesome.

Right now I should still be sleeping but have realized over the last few weeks sleep is over-rated! LOL Who can sleep at a time like this!!! =)


The suicases are all packed and ready to go!


The carry-ons are lined up and just about ready to go!

Thanks everyone for following our blog! Can't wait to share all of our AMAZING memories with you. We have tons of fun stuff planned! Some research still needs to be done on a few of the ports but beyond excited for all the places we are going to see!!!